In Italy there is a real situation of emergency concerning overcrowding in prisons. There are 69,000 inmates, although there is room only for 44,000. Living conditions are very difficult and oppressive; in 2011 there were over 50 suicides among inmates, and 600 in the last 11 years. There have also been cases of suicide among prison officers. Forty-four per cent of inmates have not received a final sentence and many are still awaiting trial.

In recent months Italian politicians and newspapers have started to discuss the issue widely; nevertheless, this emergency has been a forgotten problem for many years, ignored by both civic responsibility and politic awareness. The failure to consider this issue is visible in the organization of architectural and living spaces. Furthermore, there is a kind of no man’s land between the prison and the city, which symbolically separates the two worlds. The division is further reinforced by the fact that Italian law does not allow prisoners to be photographed.